


Interception

by Gladdybug



Series: Gladdybug does Ferdibert Week 2020 [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Crushes, Drabble, Ferdibert Week 2020 (Fire Emblem), Love Confessions, Love Letters, M/M, Pining, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25797925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gladdybug/pseuds/Gladdybug
Summary: Ferdibert Week Day 1: Espionage and ConfessionsA love-struck Ferdinand notices Hubert has been spying on him and confesses his love in a way that will surely reach him: a letter, intercepted by one of his spies."Your eagerness to peruse every last word of my correspondence has allowed me to slip this confession into your hands."
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir & Hubert von Vestra, Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra
Series: Gladdybug does Ferdibert Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872868
Comments: 16
Kudos: 97





	Interception

**Author's Note:**

> I don't trust myself to fulfill every one of these prompts since I tend to take a relaxed attitude to fandom weeks, but this idea wouldn't leave me. 
> 
> I also really like epistolary fics and may want to write one someday; consider this practice!
> 
> Set pre-timeskip, not route specific (though I like to imagine a route where everything works out great and nobody dies. LOL)

_ “Master Vestra, we’ve managed to intercept this letter from our quarry, addressed to one of the Alliance noble’s heirs.” _

_ “Thank you for your work. You are dismissed.”  _

_ The spy, disguised as one of the many nondescript landscapers employed by the church, bows and excuses herself back to her post. Hubert turns over the letter in his hands. In Ferdinand’s flourishing script, matching that on every assignment he and Hubert had worked on together, was written its recipient.  _

_ “Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, hmm?” murmurs Hubert, “now, what manner of correspondence would Ferdinand have with the heir of an Alliance noble?”  _

_ A quick swipe from one of the many hidden blades on his person is enough to open the letter. Leaning back in his chair, Hubert begins to read. _

__

Dear Hubert,

If you are reading this, one of your spies has been successful in intercepting my letter and delivering it to you. As they should be; those working under the Adrestian Empire’s future spymaster should be prompt in their recovery and report of information. Please send them my regards for a job well done. 

Perhaps you are wondering why a letter, penned by my own hand and addressed to my dear friend Lorenz, salutes you with  your name? As Lorenz hails from House Gloucester in the Alliance, surely you might harbor suspicions that my loyalties lie outside the Empire. I am happy to inform you that is not true; I take my role as future Adrestian Prime Minister as seriously as I take my own nobility. I realize that I cannot assuage your suspicions with words alone, but I pray that your keen eye will take note of my actions moving forward and think again about my intentions and loyalties. Your… observational skills, we will call them, are unparalleled, after all. 

But you are not the only one who observes, Hubert, for I too have noticed you. Despite your great lengths to conceal yourself, you cut quite a stunning figure. I can spot your mop of obsidian hair in the market crowds and the glimmer of your eyes in the shadows of the main hall. My pulse quickens in your presence and the small hairs on the back of my neck rise when you enter a room; I do not even have to look at you to know when you are close, which appears to be quite frequently by my observation. Are you spying on me, Hubert? Trying to discern whether I am a liability or an asset to the Empire? Perhaps I have behaved strangely in your presence and you feel the need to investigate? 

I will make your job easy, so you can stop wasting your time on this investigation and focus on more pressing duties. Have you noticed that I spend more time sighing wistfully into a cup of tea nowadays? That my lancework has improved, as if to prove my worth to someone I admire? Have you noticed that, lately, I take my morning rides in the western fields as if hoping a certain someone would catch a fleeting glimpse of me from the dormitories above? I have to circle Garreg Mach with Dorte to get there. Why would I do that, when the eastern fields border the stables and make for a much more pleasant ride? 

Is this why you scrutinize me so closely, Hubert? Because you question the absurdity of my actions? You are a brilliant man; surely you can recognize the behavior of a fool in love!

For that is the answer you seek, Hubert. 

I love you. 

Over the few times you have agreed to take tea with me, I have found myself not bickering with a bitter rival but discussing in depth a myriad of disparate possibilities before arriving at a solution more solid than what I would have concluded on my own. I enjoy when we push each other like this. Were I not so tongue-tied around you, I believe we could create a better future for the Empire in record time. But alas! When we speak, my words vanish into thin air only to replace themselves with hastily choked-back admissions of my ardor, because I cannot stop myself from going weak-kneed at the twinkle in your eye when something I said has caught your attention. How am I supposed to confess my attraction when just the thought of you sends my mind into a shameful tizzy? 

Your eagerness to peruse every last word of my correspondence has allowed me to slip this confession into your hands. It is yours to do with as you wish--burn it, keep it, mock it--I do not care, as long as we can continue to work together rather than bicker like children as I know we are prone to do. For the good of the Empire. 

But, if you would like a detailed list of what I find so alluring about you, Hubert von Vestra…I invite you to intercept more of my mail. 

Yours,

Ferdinand von Aegir

__

_ By the time his eyes finish following the ostentatious curlicues of Ferdinand’s signature, Hubert’s jaw hangs halfway to the floor. He closes it a little too forcefully; the click of his teeth echoing around him.  _

_ “Is this… some kind of a joke?”  _

_ He turns the envelope over. Indeed, it is addressed to Lorenz, but the salutation and its contents are clearly directed at himself. He snarls and crushes the letter in his hands before slapping it to his forehead and slumping over in exasperation. The red-hot burn of a blush spreads like wildfire across his cheeks, though he cannot tell whether it is from frustration, embarrassment, affection, or a mixture of the three.  _

_ Sighing, he releases the letter and spreads it on the table before him, frowning as he smooths out the creases made in his little outburst with more care than he would like to admit. Under any other circumstance, his first reaction would be to scold himself for playing into a quarry’s hands like a blundering neophyte, but instead he finds himself incredibly intrigued by this  _ detailed list _ Ferdinand mentions. He folds the letter and gently places it in his breast pocket for safekeeping before reaching for his pen. _

_ Maybe he’ll write back.  _


End file.
